


The Watcher

by write_read_play



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fantasy, Horror, Immortality, Multi, Mystery, Other, Smut, Spooky OQ, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-06 22:26:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16396256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/write_read_play/pseuds/write_read_play
Summary: Robin is an immortal shapeshifter who’s been alive for centuries. After a tragedy, he travels the world until he meets Regina, a mysterious woman who captivates him from afar. WARNING: Character death, some violence. For Spooky OQ Day 3, satisfies prompt Bats.





	The Watcher

**Author's Note:**

> All errors are mine. This is for willow141 who always encourages me to write smut. Ha!

Every morning she stops in at the same corner coffee shop and orders the same thing: a short, nonfat triple shot with one pump sugar free cinnamon syrup and extra foam, hold the whip. You’d think the barista knew her by now since she’s been giving them her business and money for the last eight months, but the barista is young and only glances in the customers’ general direction but never pays them much mind.

Robin has been watching her come and go for several weeks. She initially caught his attention because of her toned legs and hair so dark it was almost ebony, cascading in waves down to the middle of her back. He began following her one rainy morning, when she’d put up her hair, leaving her neck fully exposed. His eyes had closed of their own volition and he could feel his magic emanating in waves from his body, the tingly sensation like ants marching furiously in his veins.

From that moment on, he’d been hooked on watching her, on catching traces of her scent in the wind. He longed to caress her skin, to thread his fingers through that thick, luscious hair. But mostly, he wanted to have a taste of _her_.

He knows her name is Regina and that she works nearby. He doesn’t know what she does all day, and he doesn’t want to frighten her despite his aching curiosity.

One morning, she doesn’t arrive at her usual time. He waits and watches from across the street as he always does, buying a newspaper from the periodical stand as he pretends to read, his predatory supernatural eyes watching for the first sign of her. Most mornings, it’s her perfume he picks up on first before he sees her come around the corner. He can’t put his finger on the fragrance she wears, only knows it’s both spicy and sweet.

It was late summer when he first saw her, and at first watching from a distance had been enough. But as time went on, he’d return home feeling frustrated and aroused. Many afternoons he’d shut himself in the only windowless room of his home. The humans called it a walk-in closet but Robin had no use for it as such. It was where he went to think because his best ideas happened in the dark. But it was also where he went when he needed a release.

Robin knew she was different, that she could be the one. Throughout his lifetimes, he’s tried to turn many women into his eternal companion but they’d all resulted in casualties. The first one was a young girl not yet twenty, in the 1700’s. Her name had been Aurora and Robin had first seen her in a plaza in Barcelona.

 

~.~.~

 

A parasol in one hand, her other one was wrapped around the bicep of a handsome young man. Robin observed them wordlessly and soon learned the man’s name was Phillip, and that he had quite a temper.

He often humiliated Aurora publicly, until one day when he’d raised his hand to strike her and Robin refused to stand idly by.

Their carriage came to an abrupt halt when Robin approached it, briskly walking up to it and making the horses uneasy as they neighed loudly, verbalizing their discomfort. The conversation turned heated very quickly between the two men and ended when Phillip challenged him to a duel at sunrise.

Aurora begged them not to do it, but it was only Robin who acknowledged she’d been heard. He looked at her with kindness, bowing his head slightly in apology.

 

~.~.~

 

Philip never stood a chance. Robin’s preternatural senses allow him to move with speed. When Phillip’s gun goes off, Robin shifts a few millimeters to one side as the bullet scrapes his arm. Robin’s bullet, however, lodged itself deeply into Phillip’s stomach. He fell backward, and when Robin approached him, he saw a thin trickle of blood flowing out of Phillip’s mouth. His breaths ragged, he whispered accusingly, “You…”

Taking pity on him, Robin cocked the gun a second time, the deafening blast ringing through the ordinarily sleepy woods.

 

~.~.~

 

He courts Aurora and they grow closer each day. He wants to tell her the truth, and he also needs to start feeding again and soon, but she’s innocent and sweetly naive and he keeps putting it off.

One night, she surprises him by knocking on the door of the room in the tavern he’d been staying in. When he’d opened it, she crossed the threshold uninvited, her arms coming around his shoulders as she captured his lips in a heady kiss.

“Aurora,” he murmured, his hands coming up to push her arms away gently. “We mustn’t.”

But the young woman wasn’t having it, and Robin could no longer refuse her.

 

~.~.~

 

He stood off to one corner of the room, trying to recover. One moment, he’d been moving in and out of her hot dripping center, and the next, the beast within him had taken over. He felt his fangs descend and though he willed them to, they would not retract. His blue eyes flashed with amber and without another thought, he bit her.

The problem was: once he started biting her, he couldn’t stop. Over and over his fangs punctured her flesh leaving two tiny openings through which her blood would flow. He knew he was done for when he tasted her sweetness; her innocence flowed from the wounds and into his eager body. He heard her cry out, “Robin!” But by the time he took control of the beast again, she was nothing but a pale corpse. He gaped at her in horror, tears flowing down his face at what he’d done. Tiny droplets of blood seeped at the wounds he’d left on her neck, arms and breasts, her blank lifeless eyes trained on the ceiling.

Robin looked around at his few belongings. He could never let himself get attached to anything because he was always eventually forced to move.

He dragged his tongue delicately over Aurora’s wounds, as the holes sealed themselves and the skin appeared normal again. It was as though nothing had happened.

The sun hadn’t begun to rise and the veil of darkness meant he could leave freely. The watchmen might suspect him, but they would eventually give up searching for him and any records would state that the girl had died of natural causes.

Giving the room and sweet Aurora one final look, Robin opened the window then allowed the magic to take over his body and he soon felt himself shift into a bat.

Into the night, he flew away, far from the first woman he’d ever killed.

 

~.~.~

 

When he’d first been turned into this shapeshifting monster, his maker had boasted that he could kill whenever his beast needed him to feed, and that he could hide it by using his tongue to seal any puncture wounds. Untraceable. Unstoppable.

Robin felt like he was going to be sick. He vowed never to kill, but his maker laughed wickedly, her red hair seemed to glow in the setting sun. “Mark my words, young one, you will kill one day. Your nature demands it. The beast within always wins!”

He’d shaken his head vehemently in terror. “No! I won’t let it!”

Caressing his cheek, she’d said, “You can’t fight it, dear. It _always_ wins.” 

 

~.~.~

 

That was seventeen years ago.

Robin lived by an honor code as a mortal and now that he was no longer human, he freely chose to continue living the same way. He would not kill.

From time to time, his maker appeared at his bedside, claiming she was checking in when in fact she only came round to torment him.

“Your beast is craving fresh blood, Robbie. Such a shame to starve it, you know,” she admonished. “I’ve warned you: depraving it may leave to grave consequences. Better to feed now before it becomes unstoppable.”

And now as he flew through the cold predawn sky, he made up his mind: he’d keep his distance from the humans. No matter what.

 

~.~.~

 

His resolve lasted over a century.

As time went on, however, Robin learned to control his cravings. The 1800’s had been a time of much progress for the world and frequent travel for Robin. He moved through England, Asia then Russia deftly, never leaving traces of his existence anywhere. He watched from the darkness, carefully choosing his victims. He soon learned that if he kept the beast fed minimally, he had better control over it. Robin learned that although he drank human blood, he was not a vampire. He was a shapeshifter.

He also discovered more about his supernatural abilities, like shifting into different forms as he needed. These included a wolf, a panther, a snake, and a bat.

The next woman he chose was a barmaid named Marian. She was lovely and soft spoken. She was married to a man named Johnathan Nottingham, but he often left her alone and engaged in extramarital affairs. It began as a friendship, but soon she found herself trusting Robin. He knew better, though. He knew any false sense of security his victims felt was another one of his abilities to lure them in with ease.

He took blood from Marian for a few years, until one evening. After he’d closed her wounds, he’d run a hand over her hair and face and kissed her forehead as he whispered, “Goodbye Marian. Thank you.” Waving one hand over her head to erase any memory of him, he walked out of her home, and upon hearing Nottingham’s horse, he shifted into a wolf and ran into the woods nearby.

 

~.~.~

 

He didn’t always choose unhappily married women. His next victim was a beauty he met in Asia named Mulan. She treated him like a friend and when he attempted to charm her, she confessed that while he was certainly handsome, she much preferred the company of ladies in her bedroom. Regardless of that fact, they formed a friendship and as she began to care about Robin, she let her guard down and that was all it took for Robin to feed on her, though he felt very guilty for it.

Mulan had proven to be an honest and true friend, and after two months, Robin closed her wounds and removed any memory of him from her mind.

He went to Russia next, where he met a woman named Anita, whose husband had died, leaving her with two small children.

And on and on it went.

Until he found himself in a small town named Sleepy Hollow, in twenty-first century New York, utterly captivated by a raven-haired woman who loved her coffee just so every single morning as he watched pretending not to.

Robin never had trouble approaching women in the past, but there was something about Regina that kept him from introducing himself too soon.

But while he was busy strategizing, Regina had plans of her own. She remained aloof, pretending she hadn’t noticed him watching her for weeks, and carried on with her routine as usual.

 _Soon_ , she told herself.

 

~.~.~

 

It had been raining for three days and the sky showed no signs of stopping. With the rain came the cold weather, umbrellas in all colors and patterns, galoshes, and even scarves and mittens to protect against the biting wind.

Robin stood by the newsstand, pretending to read his paper while sneaking glances every few minutes at the coffee shop across the street.

The wind died down suddenly and the air was thick with damp wetness. Wondering where she could be, a velvety voice speaks from behind him. “Excuse me, can you break a $50?”

Robin reaches into his pocket as he turns on his heel and feels as if he’s been sucker punched. It’s _her_.

Regina.

“Of course,” he answers politely and she smiles.

Up close she’s even more breathtaking. Dark, thick, curled lashes frame eyes the color of rich coffee. Her lips are luscious and he’s finding it hard not to stare. All he can think about is kissing those lips, smearing the merlot-shade of lipstick as he makes his way down the column of her neck.

Robin starts to feel his fangs descend so he forces himself to look away, feigning interest in counting out the bills in his wallet instead. Handing her two twenties and a ten, he smiles and says, “There you are.”

It’s not supposed to mean anything but she gives him a curious look and when their fingers touch, Robin feels as though he’s transported elsewhere.

Visions of Regina naked and writhing in ecstasy beneath his hard body flood his head. The sweet coppery taste of her blood flows freely into his mouth as he willingly drinks to his fill. It’s surprising to him that in his fantasy, she’s perfectly fine, unlike the women he’s drank from in the past. He’d always had to will himself to stop lest he kill them.

Mouth agape, he stutters as he returns to the moment. Regina bemusedly watches him. “I’m, ah, sorry. I… You reminded me of someone I used to know,” he explains lamely. “Have a nice day.”

He starts to turn, but she touches the sleeve of his coat. “Regina,” she offers her name willingly. “I was just about to have a cup of coffee across the street. Care to join me?”

Robin no longer eats or drinks mortal foods and beverages. He’s certain he appears hesitant, and Regina picks up on his discomfort, giving him an easy way out. “Or not,” she offers a friendly smile. “Thanks for this,” she says motioning with her head to the cash folded in her hand as she looks at the street and crosses, the distance between them growing.

 

~.~.~

 

He doesn’t leave the room he’d rented at the extended stay hotel the following morning. Robin had never had an encounter with a human like the one he’d had with Regina. He stood by the window, his warm breath clouded the glass. The day was wet and dreary again, and temperatures had dropped. It was the coldest day so far. He wondered if he should shift into his wolf form and go for a run in the woods. He needed to distract himself. He’d masturbated a few times since their encounter, and it was torture, for when he opened his eyes, Robin fully expected Regina to be there with him. Engulfed in his conflicting emotions of desire mixed with disappointment, the best thing for him now was to get some fresh air into his lungs, get his blood pumping. He draped his anorak over himself and walked out of the room.

 

~.~.~

 

Robin ran until his paws were filthy with mud. He took cover beneath the thick branch where he’d left his clothes earlier. The earth was moist and cool beneath him, and he allowed himself to catch his breath. His ears twitched when the wind rustled past them, but the familiar scent made him point his snout upward to catch a deeper whiff.

 _Regina._ But where? Surely not out in this weather?

Allowing his scenting ability to direct him, he tracked her to this cabin in the middle of the woods. In his mouth, he carried a satchel holding his belongings.

From the woods, Robin could see inside the windows. She was there, alone, reading by the fireplace, a throw draped over her shoulders. Running back into the woods, he quickly shifted back to human form and got dressed. And before he could talk himself out of it, he walked back under the downpour of rain, the cool water washing him clean from his previous form, and he knocked on the cabin door three times.

Regina opened the door, and removed her glasses. “Come in, Watcher.”

 

~.~.~

 

He follows her inside. Everything about her is alluring, beckoning to his beast. Now that he’s close he can see she’s wearing a knee-length sheer gown and the thick throw he’d seen on her through the window is actually a plush robe. Her scent is intoxicating and she’s completely devoid of makeup. Her skin is dewy, glowing.

His mouth waters when his eyes drift toward her pebbled nipples, fingers itch to touch them.

“My name is Robin. And how do you know what I am?” Robin asks quietly, reigning in his lust.

Instead of answering him, she sits down on the plush couch before the fire and lets the robe slip off her, revealing one bare shoulder as the material pulls the gown. Robin takes a deep breath trying to exert control over the beast but he can feel his arousal growing. His fangs begin to descend.

“Why don’t you take some of my blood? You’re hungry,” she notices and wets her lips. An invitation.

He looks away and closes his eyes offering a silent prayer, willing the beast to stay within. He feels her move closer to him, feels the warmth radiating off her body. “You won’t hurt me,” she says. “I promise.”

Taking his hand in hers, she brings it up to her face as she kisses his palm then moves it lower until it rests on her breast. Closing his hand around her, he opens his eyes and lets out a shuddering breath as his thumb starts to rub her nipple through the thin material. Regina allows him to touch her, as soft sighs escape her lips. She stands before him, in front of the fire and reaches down for her gown, slipping it up off her head, naked before him.

Drinking in her form, Robin reaches for her, taking her hand in his as he kneels before her, his head near her sex. He breathes her in and it’s the most potent he’s ever experienced, that same sweet, spicy scent he’s come to know is Regina. His hands come up and caress her thighs, continue up to her hips, delicately tracing her curves as he memorizes her body. He comes around her ass, caressing the round firmness before taking her hands and pulling softly as he murmurs, “Lay down.”

Regina comes down to his level as his hands begin tracing patters along both breasts again. A soft gasp escapes her as she whispers, “What are you waiting for?”

“How did you know I was a watcher?”

Shaking her head, her finger comes up over his lips. “Enough talking.” Taking her hand back, she runs the sharp nail of her thumb along one delectable breast. “Drink.”

The blood trickling out sends him over the edge as he leans forward and suckles her. The wound closes after a few laps but now his fangs are fully out. Her hands hold onto his arms as his enfold her waist, pulling her closer to him.

Robin’s fangs break through the skin above her breast, the blood flowing a lot quicker from the larger wound. Heat and desire fill him as his hands caress her body. He towers over her, and slowly lowers her to the plush area rug on the ground.

The flames cast shadows on her torso. Regina opens her legs as he removes his wet clothes, tossing them to one side before moving between them. The wounds he’d made have already closed. He’s so aroused he doesn’t stop to wonder or ask. Inhaling her scent, he closes his eyes as his tongue drags slowly through her wet folds. They moan together.

He’s very talented with his tongue. Centuries spent perfecting this technique make him able to make any woman climax quickly and he prides himself on this skill, listening to Regina moan and sigh, as she encourages him to go on. Before he can stop them, his fangs sink into a creamy thigh near her center. She cries out in surprise but he only takes a few sips before he’s lapping the wound closed. He’s had enough blood to sustain him for a while, but her taste is so sweet he’s sure he’ll never want to leave her after this.

Questions arise in his mind and he dismisses them, decides he will get the answers he seeks later on. He forces his fangs to retract; he doesn’t want them out for this next part.

He dips one finger in her core, sucking her clit hard. Regina’s back arches off the rug, her skin shiny with sweat. Robin slides a hand up her body and squeezes her breast, plucking her nipple expertly. She lets out another enthusiastic moan, and lets him know she’s close. He can feel how much wetter she’s become since they began so he adds another finger, his lips never release her clit. His fingers go from pumping in and out to smooth drags, searching and finding her spot with ease. Applying slight pressure, Robin strokes her spot deliberately using a come hither motion, and he feels as she starts to fall over. “Let go,” he coaxes, using his thumb rhythmically on her clit, allowing it to glide in circles. “I’ve got you.”

Regina shatters around him, her legs involuntarily closing him in as he eases them back down. He slows down his touches and kisses until she’s shivering, crying out, “That’s enough, that’s enough.”

She sits up then and straddles him on the floor, moving her hips teasingly along his length before sinking down on him. Regina’s eyes flash and look like they’re glowing for just a second and Robin blinks to make sure it happened, but he disregards it, believing it to be the fire reflecting in them. She lowers her upper body down so it’s flush with his as they move together. His hand threads through her hair and they look into each other’s eyes before their lips come together in a heady kiss as her hips grind down on him.

Robin lets out a breathy gasp of encouragement as Regina pushes herself up, using his chest for purchase. Rotating her hips, she moves above him sliding up and down and in circles. She watches him watch her and she brings her finger to her mouth, wetting it with the tip of her tongue before it’s on her clit. Robin feels more wetness coating his cock, everything is slippery and amazing.

She comes again with a shout, her walls gripping his length like a vise as he continues to pound into her. His eyes are half closed but he feels her come back down from her high, as her torso meets his. She beginson his body, quickening her pace then slowing down torturously as her lips find his neck. He feels her suckling him, and he grabs hold of her ass, thrusting up into her.

It happens quickly. Her fangs descend and bite into Robin’s neck as he empties himself deep into her. He can feel his blood seeping from the wound, as Regina drinks then laps at his torn skin, closing it.

His arms around her waist, he sits them up in front of the fire and caresses her face. “You’re a watcher, too.”

She nods, a radiant smile on her lips. “I’ve been following you for the last five years,” she muses. “I was just too scared to approach you.”

“What changed?”

Shaking her head, she says, “I was afraid I might lose you, that you might be moving on soon…so I took a chance.”

Recalling that morning she’d asked him for change, he smiles again. “What are your gifts? Can you shift?”

“Yes,” she nods again, taking his hand as she rubs her thumb soothingly on his skin. Robin can’t remember the last time he felt this level of relaxed intimacy. “I can shift into the same creatures as you. I can erase human memories at will. Only…” she looks away embarrassed.

“What?” Robin prods softly. “You can tell me anything.”

“I’m a little older than you, so I’m able to control my beast longer. And I’ve learned to blend in with humans. For instance, I can tolerate some of their foods.”

Robin’s face lights in understanding. “The coffee,” he remarks with a smile and bites his bottom lip. “So what do we do now?”

“Anything we want, Robin. We have forever.”


End file.
